Embodiments of the inventive subject matter generally relate to the field of wireless communications devices, and, more particularly, to over the air programming of MAC addresses for wireless communications devices in a production line.
As the cost of providing wireless communications capability comes down, more and more devices integrate wireless communications functionality. Wireless communications provide the ability for devices to communicate with one another over a wireless communications network. In order to ensure that wireless data is communicated to the proper target device, each device communicating on a network must have a unique physical layer address, referred to as a MAC (Media Access Control) address. MAC addresses are typically programmed into a wireless device during a production line process for a host device that includes the wireless device. In typical production environments, the host device provides a fixture or socket for wired communications with a configuration system. The host device receives the MAC address for the wireless device through the socket or fixture, and accesses the wireless device through a conducted bus interface to instruct the wireless device to program the MAC address into a persistent memory accessible by the wireless device. Thus the logic for receiving a MAC address and programming the MAC address generally resides on the host device. The socket or fixture adds to the cost of the host device, and further suffers from the disadvantage that bent or broken pins on the socket or fixture can make it impossible to correctly program the MAC address for the wireless device integrated with the host device. Further, host devices can have many different hardware configurations and operating systems, and as a result, the code to obtain and program a MAC address may need to be adapted to many different environments. Thus current methods of programming a MAC address through a conducted interface do not scale well.